Mass Resonance
by A Very Desperate Reader
Summary: TJ was just a regular 15 year old girl, at least that's what she thought before she was thrown into a the Mass Effect Universe by Death himself. Waking up 10 years prior to the beginning of the game, TJ is in for a ride as she meets and works with the characters of the game that has become her reality and as she strives to save the universe that has become her home. [SI, WIP]
1. ARC I part 1: I didn't sign up for this

Chapter One

"talking"- normal speech  
'talking' - Tabitha speaking with Nicodemus  
_'talking_' - Nicodemus speaking with Tabitha  
_talking_ \- Tabitha thinking to herself

Melbourne, Australia, Sol System 2012 1:20pm

The heat of the Australian sun beat down heavy on my unprotected neck; it was as if I could feel my skin turning pink with sunburn. Groaning under the weight of the shopping bags, I adjusted my grip as I continued walking along the footpath. Reaching the crossing I slammed the button a few times before retreating into the shade of the corner store shopfront. Rolling my neck I sighed turning my grey eyes to the road in front of me. Cars drove past before inevitably stopping as the traffic lights turned red. The right hand turning lane beside me had cars ready to turn as the arrow turned green. My eyes widened in horror and were accompanied by the screams as a small boy only around 6 years old ran out onto the road. It hadn't even occurred to me that I had dropped the shopping or that I had started running, looking at the silver vehicle which was going way too fast around the corner and was now too close for me to save the both of us. Making a split second decision I shoved the kid out of the way right as the car hit my side. I felt bones cracking and the breathe rush out of my lungs. I felt the impact as I crumpled to the asphalt road, screams filled the air and the screeching of tyres was accompanied by the sounds of crashing cars. I was rolled over onto my back, I noticed how hard breathing seemed and my focus began to swim as a man came into view. Though his mouth was moving I heard nothing but a loud buzz as the screams receded into the background and blackness encroached on my vision. I suddenly felt tired, so very tired, what was the point in fighting to stay awake, the blackness seemed so inviting. As I lost track of my thoughts I was enveloped by the cool blackness.

* * *

I felt weightless, like there was nothing tying me to the ground and that I was free to just float away. No pain, no fear, absolutely nothing except for a deep sense of peace. The feeling did not last, as if I had triggered it, the dam of my thoughts broke and the memories, emotions and the pain came flooding back. Doubling over in pain I cried out. But as soon as the pain had come it disappeared. Confused, my eyes snapped open only to be assaulted by the bright light of my current surroundings.

"Jesus Fuck!" I hissed shading my eyes, groaning loudly I opened my eyes again, however this time far slower, allowing them to adjust to the light.

"Tsk tsk tsk, a lady should not be using such foul language" At the sound of the voice I started, turning quickly trying to spot the owner of the voice, my previous feeling of weightlessness long gone.

"Who's there? Who are you? Where the fuck am I?" I called out worriedly, my eyes scanning the blank whiteness surrounding me.

"I have no given name dear, some call me Death however other's an angel. But that is of no matter at this point in time Tabitha. What is important however, is that the world you once knew is not the one you are destined for" the disembodied, honey like voice spoke once again. As if his words triggered my brain into action I realized the consequences I now faced.

"So I am dead then" I murmured more to myself then to the voice.

"No, not dead, simply pulled from one universe into the in-between, the Netherworld, or better known by those from your world as Limbo. Either way it is my domain and I am its ruler" I blinked. The Netherworld? Oh sweet baby Jesus I must be going crazy

"You are not crazy Tabitha, far from it."

"Oh great you can read my mind." I grumbled before sighing "well then I suppose you would also know I don't appreciate not knowing who it is I am talking to." I remarked.

"Oh do forgive me, I sometimes forget you mortals cannot see me." The voice chuckled lightly, before a flash of light filled the whiteness. I blinked a few times as before me stood a figure, garbed in flowing black robes and holding a oddly shaped staff with a glowing red crystal embedded into it. The figure was male but had long hair that tumbled over his shoulder, and despite the pure white shade of his hair his face was youthful. His eyes were the same glowing red as the odd crystal embedded on his staff.

"Well you certainly aren't what I expected" I stated raising an eyebrow in question, as I eyed his choice of attire.

"Ah, Apologies. I was in the middle of something when you arrived." With another flash of light the man reappeared wearing a well tailored black suit, his hair tied back neatly with a black ribbon and his staff had change into an elegantly carved walking stick. I had to stifle a giggle, he looked like a weird cross between Lucius Malfoy and a Albino.

"Well you appear to be taking this better than most." He murmured a slightly offended look on his ageless face.

"I'm sorry, but Fan fiction and too many video games" I explained with a shrug. As if he finally understood, he simply beckoned me forward.

"Well then Tabitha, come, walk with me we have much to discuss."

"TJ, please. Tabitha is a tad bit stuffy" I answered scrunching up my nose slightly as I

approached him.

"As you wish TJ, Nicodemus is the name I favour" he responded in kind, his honey textured voice held a smile. With a wave of his hand the whiteness faded like fog, to reveal a beautifully kept garden. It had stone walls surrounding it, though as for how I knew this I did not know, cause I certainly could not see them from our current position.

"So Nick, what did you want to talk about?" I asked glancing around in interest at the exotic yet alien flowers around us.

"Nick?"

"Nicodemus is just a bit of a mouthful" I flashed a grin at him before my eyes returned to the flowers. We had begun to follow a stone path and before long reached a river that had a beautifully craved stone bridge built across the rushing waters. Nick stopped at the halfway point before turning to me.

"Now, as I mentioned before the universe still has need of you, just not in the world you were born into. You were placed into your previous world to gain the knowledge needed to save the universe in question. You now possess the required knowledge to complete the task you were destined for." Nick began, his eyes boring into mine.

"You have but two choices ahead of you, one you begin life anew and complete your given task. Or you continue onto the afterlife." I stared at the man for a few seconds blinking,

"Right, well I'm going to have to ask a few questions before I go and make any freaky decisions." I stated, leaning back comfortably on the stone railing behind me.

"Ask away." Nick returned, his blood red eyes glinting with hidden mischief.

"Alright then, first off what is going to happen to my family if I choose to go into this new

world?"

"To them you would never have existed, your existence in your previous world would be erased." At Nicks response I felt a pang of heartbreak, did I want my family to mourn my passing or be saved from that heartbreak by me never existing? Deciding to think on that later, I continued on.

"Okay, question number two. What would happen if I fail?"

"I return you back to the beginning until you fulfill your destiny" he answered matter-of-factly, at his response I raise my eyebrow before continuing.

"Three, am I going alone?" Nick grinned.

"No, I'll be coming with you." He said as with a wave of his hand I fell backwards off the bridge into the rushing waters below. I screamed as I fell, splashing into the water before sinking into oblivion.

* * *

**Vancouver, Canada, Sol System, 2173, 3:37pm Earth time.**

A rush of pain pulled me back into consciousness and ripped a groan from my chapped lips. Everything hurt! Opening my eyes, I was once more assaulted by the bright light.

"Christ" I grumbled, turning my head in an attempt to shield my eyes.

'_What did I say about being ladylike_' at the sound of Nick's voice I cursed again loudly.

"Where are you arsehole. I'm going to fucking murder you." I growled.

'_Tut tut TJ, that's not very nice. And to answer your question I'm on your wrist._'

"My…Wrist…?" I murmured in confusion. Gritting my teeth, I pushed my battered body up into an upright position leaning my back against the wall. Once somewhat comfortable I looked at my wrist. It seemed clear I was about to say something when I spotted what seemed to be an intricate tattoo on the underside of my wrist.

"You're a...tattoo?" I inquired completely flabbergasted.

_'Technically speaking yes, It allows me to communicate with you from my Realm and help you with your task. Also I am communicating directly in your mind so there is no reason to speak aloud, unless you enjoy looking ridiculous.'_ I narrowed my eyes at the tattoo.

'You are an arsehole Nick.'

_'Tut tut, not very ladylike'_

'I don't care, never been one for being ladylike.' I could almost see Nick conceding my point.

I examined the tattoo more closely; it appeared to be of Celtic origins though what it meant or was I had no idea. I think I would make a point of looking it up later. Shrugging, I figured I could deal with it, it was aesthetically pleasing enough.

'Okay so I'm obviously not in the afterlife because everything fucking hurts. So that leaves the question of where the fuck am I?'

_'Of course you're in pain, you did get hit by a car you know. And you are on Earth, just not the Earth you once knew'_ Nicks cryptic response irritated me, but I figured that was all I was going to get.

"Best get to figuring out where the fuck I am then." I murmured, grunting as I pushed myself to my feet. I stood still swaying slightly from sudden vertigo. Once the nausea had passed I looked around me. The alleyway I was in was filled with Garbage and debris. Scrunching my nose slightly, I gritted my teeth as I began walking to the end of the alleyway. Poking my head out the street seemed somewhat empty but did not look abandoned, just quiet. Great, chance of Zombies is decreasing ever so slightly. Smiling in amusement I left the alley and began to walk toward the faint sound of bustling streets. Figuring that my best option to figure out where the fuck I was, was to find someone to ask. I didn't walk long before I reached what appeared to be a sign. It simply said Northumberland Apartment district.

"Guess that explains why it was so quiet, it must be the middle of the work day or something..." I muttered, I continued on a little bit further towards the brighter end of the street only to stop in awe. I stood in the shade of the buildings around me but just ahead of me was a large square with people rushing about their daily business. However the thing that struck me silent was the futuristic apparel the wore, the metal skyscrapers, the fucking flying cars. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that I had landed in the middle of Mass Effect, when right at that very moment on one of the big billboards, A Special Elcor rendition of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

"Holy shit..." I murmured 'I'm in the Mass Effect Universe?'

_'You are quite correct TJ, now head across the square to the Alliance Registry Vancouver Branch.'_

'Alliance REGISTRY! What! You want me to become a fucking marine?'

_'Indeed it is the best way to get you equipped and ready to complete your destiny. And don't worry you are considered a street rat here, you don't have records.'_ I stood stock still for a few minute shell shocked. Me, in the Alliance... I wasn't sure what Nick had in store for me but he did raise a point. I f I managed to join the Alliance it would give me a chance at staying alive when the Reapers Attacked…OH CHRIST JESUS. The Reapers, Saren, Sovereign, Cerberus, The Collectors. I was going to be up against a whole lot of shit. Considering my options, Nick had made a good point. If I wanted to complete this so called task I needed to be well equipped. Especially considering what his so called "task" might be. Making my decision I stepped out into the light of the courtyard and tried to spot the registry. People who passed me gave me dirty looks and I was a bit offended in all honesty.

"What's a Street Rat like you doing here in civilization?" A man sneered at me. Frowning a glared at him.

"Simply trying to find my way to the bloody Alliance registry, or am I not allowed to do that?"

I sneered back, hey I don't like people talking down at me.

"Tired of slumming it Street Rat'

"No I simply want to join the Alliance. D'you have a problem with that Sir?" I asked coldly, the man seemed slightly taken aback by my attitude. "Look I don't want to cause any trouble, I really am just looking to sign up at the Alliance Registry and I am currently very lost, so if you excuse me time is wasting away and I need to get a move on if I want to sign up today." I gritted my teeth and spoke as politely as I could to the man, despite his rudeness. When he didn't say anything I rolled my eyes "Good day Sir." I said before turning on my heel and walking away _Prejudiced Arsehole_. However I was telling the truth when I said I had no idea where I was going. I was stopped when the man called out to me.

"Wait, I apologize miss. Let me take you there." I was slightly surprised at his offer but accepted it politely. He led me to the far side of the square and towards a shop, on second glance it was actually the registry."There you go Miss. Sorry about before." The man looked appropriately contrite so I chose to forgive him.

"No problem Sir, you have your reasons I'm sure" I returned "and thank you, I would have had a hard time finding it by myself' the man left quickly and I turned and entered the registry.

'Nick?' I asked nervously as I walked into what looked like an empty waiting room

_'Yes TJ?'_ he replied slightly amused.

'How am I suppose to bypass the age restrictions, I'm only 15.'

_'Why, my dear. Lie. You don't have a records here. I'll change it back after you are enrolled don't worry.'_ He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'You can do that?' I had to admit I was surprised.

_'Of course I can.'_ He sounded offended.

'Right, sorry.' I answered before walking up to the desk. I stood there awkwardly for a few moments before clearing my throat lightly. The African American man behind the desk turned to face me, slightly surprised to see me standing there.

"Hello there, what can I do for you?" he asked politely eyeing my clothing. I blushed furiously at the state of my attire. I was still in the clothes I'd been wearing back in my time but they were ripped and ragged.

"I'd like to enlist Sir" his eyes widened at my quiet statement.

"Uh...okay then. Name?

"Tabitha Jane Jamieson" I responded, watching intently as he turned to the holo screen in front of him.

"You don't appear to be on records."

"Street Kid" I shrugged "Never had to fill out the census" he chuckled slightly.

"Get a lot of you guys we do, something about a better life. An Australian though, you guys are rare around here."

"I guess so." I murmured, hoping he wasn't going to ask how I got to Vancouver, because I honestly wasn't sure about that myself.

"Alright then I'm going to need to set you up a profile. So if you come with me we'll get started."

"What about the desk?"

"Oh that, there's a VI that can handle any enquirers" I simply nodded and followed the man down a hallway to the right. We entered a room and he sat behind another desk with a holo screen however this time there was a seat for me.

"Take a seat Miss Jamieson, and we'll get started." I took a seat facing the desk and sat up straight.

"Alrighty we're going to start with the easy stuff. Place of Birth?"

"Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia." I recited.

"Date of Birth?" I winced at this.

'2154" Nick supplied

"13th of August 2154 I answered, the guy looked at me funny but continued on asking me routine questions. He then took a blood sample; he seemed confused how I was alive without current vaccinations. He ordered a referral to the closest medical clinic for a physical check up, eye surgery and to get up to date vaccinations, by this point it was quiet late but he suggested a place for accommodation for the night. Taking his advice and heading off towards the apartments I was quickly put into a room. The room itself was quite bare but in all honesty I didn't care it had a bed and after the day I'd had I needed sleep.

_'Well I must say I'm quite proud of you_' I smiled at Nick's statement.

'Thank you Nick.' Now that I was alone, bar the exception of Nick the events of the day came crashing down on me. The tears began to spill from my eyes and sobs ripped through my body. Within minutes I had completely broken down.

_'TJ? TJ!_' Nick was trying to get my attention but in my hysterics I had lost control. The room had lighted up for a split second before I was pulled into warm comforting arms.

"Shhhh, shhhh darling child." His honey like voice felt like it was soothing my soul. "Now child what brought this on?" at his question I began to bawl like a child.

"I'm never going to see them again. My parents, my brothers, and my friends, they all don't even remember that I exist." Nick simply held me close as the tears ran their course and sleep took over my exhausted mind.

* * *

**Vancouver, Canada, Sol System, 2173, 6:30 am Earth time.**

My mind was still groggy as I shuffled down to the common area to have some breakfast.

"Need some coffee?" I started at the familiar voice. Turning I was met by the warm brown eyes of the register.

"Hey, you're the guy from the registry" I muttered rather dumbly.

"Yes, I do have a name you know, it's Rick" he teased, I blushed furiously.

"Right, sorry Rick and no I don't drink coffee, I only drink tea." He laughed.

"Just as well this place is well stocked in tea." At his comment my eyes lit up he laughed again as I raced to the kitchenette. Once settled with my tea and breakfast I sat at one of the many tables. Rick came and sat near me and looked at me curiously.

"You planning on going to the medical center today?" he asked

"You make it sound as if I have a choice. But yes I do plan on heading to the medical center.

If I knew where it was..." I stated sipping my tea.

"Well good news for you then that I know where it is and also where to get you an omni-tool." He grinned at me.

"Do you do this with all recruits?" I asked confused,

"Not usually, only with Street Kids, and to be honest you're an interesting one." I raised an eyebrow at him but conceded.

"Well then, what time did I need to be at the medical center?" Rick waved his omni-tool and checked the time.

"In 15 minutes."

"Christ we'd better get a wriggle on then." I said, stuffing my mouth with my cereal.

"Wriggle on?" Rick asked with an amused look, as I continued stuffing my face. I rolled my eyes at him and swallowed.

"Move on, you know. Get moving, that sort of thing, Aussie slang" I sighed as I finished my breakfast. Standing up I dropped my dishes into the dishwasher and followed Rick out of the apartments. We made quick time and reached the medical center on time.

"Alright then Jamieson, I'm going to head off and grab you a few things and I'll meet you back here after you're finished." he smiled before giving me a pat on the back and pushing me in the direction of clinic.

"Just so you know Rick, I hate needles!" I called out after him, I heard him chuckle as he walked away. Scowling I stared at the medical clinic and squared my shoulder.

"Better get it over and done with then..." I murmured before walking through the door. The doors hissed closed behind me and I had to blink a few times to make out the details of the room in front of me it was so stark white. Spotting the receptionist I walked over towards her, shifting from foot to foot anxiously as she ignored me for the person on the other end of her head piece.

"Yes Doctor, I'll send them a reminder immediately. Of course, was there anything else I could help you with? No? Well then goodbye Doctor." her tone was crisp and professional. It matched well with her appearance blonde hair tied up in a tight bun, brown eyes focused on the holoscreen in front of her, a crisp suit with a soft white blouse. Overall she reminded me of the receptionists back home except her attire was far more futuristic and she didn't wear one of those dickey little scarves around her neck. After the receptionist had ended the call. She took a few moments to do as asked. Before turning her brown eyed attention to me.

"Hello, what can I do for you today?" her voice was kind and chirpy very different from the tone she used with the doctor earlier.

"Ah...I've been sent to get the required vaccinations, eye surgery and have a physical check up by the Alliance Registry. Tabitha Jamieson?"

"Of course we've already been informed of your needs Miss Jamieson. If you would take a seat up the corridor on your left Doctor Gordon will be right with you" Following the receptionists instructions, I took the corridor to the left and took one of the empty seats. I was quite surprised to see several other people seated near by despite the early hour, except I could tell from the dog tags they all wore they were apart of the Alliance. There were 7 of us all up, 4 guys and 2 other women. I took my time to observe them while I waited for the doctor. One of the guys was well built, had more than one tattoo and had several scars marring his face. _Well he is definitely a marine._

Nick chuckled in my head. _'Having fun there TJ?'_

'Have to keep myself occupied somehow.' I smiled a bit, my eyes turning to two younger guys, they were probably just getting into their twenties by the youthful aura that surrounded the two of them. One was a blond whose eye were a deep blue, I had to admit he was uh...quite attractive. His partner was equally as attractive with his well toned arms and inviting eyes, his hair was darked and mussed up. Quickly glancing away my eyes fell on one of the women. She was attractive despite the aura of strength she gave off. Her dark hair was plaited and tendrils escaped to frame her face, her blue eyes were trained on the words she was reading on her omnitool.

'Hmmm. Infiltrator or Sentinel. Nick she can't just be an Engineer. She doesn't give off that kind of feel'

_'She's a Sentinel Class, she's here because her L2 amps are giving her migraines and she needs pain meds before she is due back on board her ship.'_

'Awww you're taking the fun out of it, you're not suppose to tell me why their here, I was supposed to guess' I whined internally my eyes moving to land on the last two people in the room. The guy had curly red hair that was accompanied by some warm brown eyes, he was talking with a blond woman whose hazel eyes were shining with impatience. Every once in a while he'd lay a hand on her knee or rub his hand along her arm. If I was to be completely honest they were a cute couple.

_'You are quite right, she is expecting a little bundle of joy. She just doesn't know that yet.'_ I had to hide my grin at that.

'So what about GI Joe over there, what's he here for?'

_'Psych evaluation before his next mission. He's been off duty due to a injury.'_ the marine in question glanced my way, before returning to his previous position with a grunt. _'Obviously he thinks you're a bit lacking there TJ'_ Nick teased. I huffed in annoyance at the deity but turned my eyes back to the two younger marines.

'What are those two in here for Nick?' I asked, purposely changing topics.

_'Blondie is in for a check up and evaluation along with doe eyes. They're up for recommendation into the N1 Program.'_ his amused voice let me know he was more then aware of what I was doing.

'N1? Isn't N1 to N3 the basic officer training?'

_'Correct, all Alliance Officers have a minimum of N1 training. N2 and N3 Officers usually take up the high ranking Officer positions within the Alliance higher ups.'_ he responded.

'So when Shepherd finishes N7 training technically speaking that man or woman is ridiculously over qualified.' I deadpanned for a few moments before asking 'on that note is it a fem!Shep or dude!Shep in this Universe?'

_'The future Commander Shepherd is male in this universe. He's had a bit of rough time but it might be best if he tells you himself rather than finding out before hand. All you need to know is he's a Vanguard, Spacer his military service history is still in the making at the time being. Although I do have access to that too, that might take the fun out of it._' Nick replied, his tone instructive.

'Ok cool. I can do that. It' s 2173 yeah? So he's what 18..19? So he'd still be at the AMA*. I'll have 3 months of Boot Camp, before hitting the Academy, but you have 4 years so assuming he signed up fresh out of turning 18 he'd be in his second year.'Wait Vanguard, makes 5 years at the Academy.

_'The Alliance runs 4 separate Boot Camps Jan- March, April-June, July-September, October-December. The current date is March 29th so you'll be going through the second round of Boot Camp. You'll be starting at the Academy just as Shepard enters he's second year of Basics, as he started the same time as you last year. He also lied his way in by a year. He shows relatively good skills at hacking as he has managed to change his birthdate back to April 11 2154.'_

'Alright. It's interesting I wonder why he just didn't wait... But either way he's going to Graduate the Academy before me so it doesn't really matter.' I mused

_'Only a year before you, so you have plenty of time to get to know him. He's a Vanguard and as you said before he has 5 years, he'll Graduate June 2176. Now have you put in any thought as to what class you want to train as?'_ Nick informed, I narrowed my eyes externally at the wall in front of me at his precocious tone, before letting my face fall back into a neutral expression.

'Infiltrator, I just don't see myself as strictly an Engineer or Soldier.' I answered slightly irritated.

_'Good choice, and Infiltrator and a Vanguard would make a complementary pair. Also I think it suits you, you're not a very tall girl, and quite slight which makes you ideal for reconnaissance and infiltration, but you still would be able to wield a sniper rifle, Assault Rifle and Pistol with relative ease. Because I just cannot see you wielding a Shotgun.'_ he analyzed with a laugh.

'The recoil would probably blast me off world.' I grinned internally, the deity in my head burst into laughter. I turned my eyes from the wall when one of the doors further along the hall opened, to reveal a short stout man in his late 60's, early 70's wearing a white medical coat and glasses hanging from the pocket. Exiting the room was a tall blonde woman with a very visible athletic build.

"Thanks for that Doc. I'll be seeing ya" she smiled before walking down the hall, passed the other patients and me towards reception. The grey haired doctor, looked down at the data pad before calling out.

"Jamieson, Tabitha?" I stood from my chair and walked over to the doctor, giving Gi Joe a rather wide berth after a particularly nasty glare.

"That would be me" I responded quietly to him with a weak smile. Spirits I hated needles.

"Nice to meet you Tabitha, my name is Doctor Gordon. Lets see what we can do for you today hmm" he smiled at me reassuringly leading me into the room before shutting the door. I winced as I spotted the tray with multiple syringe like appliances neatly line up. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

**AU; HI everyone, this is my first attempt at a MASS EFFECT OC SI, so apologies if it's not the best.**

**SO the plan is for this story to span from the 10 years prior to ME1 through to the end of ME3, at this stage I think I'm going to keep it in the one story and separate each section into ARC's that will be labelled in the chapters to make it easier to find.**  
**The First 10 years are going to be covered in the first 5 chapters or so, there is going to be several time skips so I'll try to keep them as easy to follow as possible.**

**This is going to be a VERY VERY LONG story, not just chapter wise but in chapter length, as most of the chapter's are going to average 10,000 words. This first chapter is an exception as I wanted to set the scene and introduce my OC.**

**This first Arc is centered about setting Tabitha and Nicodemus into the story alongside Shepard and it may have a few sneak peeks at other characters.**

**PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW. Let me know what you think I'm really interested in what you have to say.**

**Desperate Reader Signing Out.**

**((UPDATE: 25/11/2014- Re-reading the chapter I have edited a few things to keep the flow with the next chapter, so please re-read this chapter before reading the newest chapter ))**

**((UPDATE: 28/02/2015- Apologies to all you readers, I know I said Id have the next chapter out last Nov/Dec but real life caught up with me and stopped me from writing. But I am back at Uni part-time now and have taken up writing again. I hope to have the next chapter out soon, as I am already halfway through (it 5914 words long at the moment). Thats all for now, AVDR out))**

***AMA- Alliance Militant Academy:** The Academy that all Alliance go through to specialise into different classes. Each specialty class has a different number of years until you graduate and become a fully fledged Alliance marine.

_Soldier: 3 years_

_Engineer: 5 years_

_Adept: 3 years_

_Infiltrator: 4 years_

_Sentinel: 4 years_

_Vanguard: 5 years_

**Please Note that all Graduates get sent out on a mission immediately afterwards to test their skills.**


	2. ARC I part 2: Welcome to Hell

_**AN:** So after over a year, I have finally finished Chapter Two. I have to apologise to those followers and reviewers who have been waiting. I have nothing to say other then I am so sorry. A Hobbit Plot Bunny took up most of my creativity this past year, RL also decided to butt in and make writing hard too. But that's okay, because I have a plan. It may take a while after this update (hopefully not a year but..) I am planning on pre-writing several chapters so that I can update as I write. ( This is what I am doing with my Hobbit/LoTR fic **Winds of Change**.) I am hoping that this way I will be able to provide more regular updates._

_However despite that. I REACHED OVER 10,000 words for this chapter :D so I at least managed that. You also get to me Jon Shepard this chapter (Spoiler)_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or it's characters, they all belong to the lovely game developers at Bioware. I only own my OC's. **

* * *

Chapter Two

"talking"- normal speech  
'talking' - Tabitha speaking with Nicodemus  
'talking' - Nicodemus speaking with Tabitha  
talking - Tabitha thinking to herself

**Alliance Boot Camp, Unknown location, Sol System, April 1st 2173.**

A month had passed since I had been dumped into the Mass Effect Universe. During that month Rick, or Corporal Johnson as was his rank, had helped me get on my feet. In other words he took me shopping. It was definitely an experience, in all my life I don't think I have ever been dragged around by a 6 foot 2 adult man, who got excited over dressing me up like a doll. Although considering the spending spree was completely paid for by the Alliance I didn't mind all that much. Rick had also inputted his contact information into my omni-tool the moment he'd bought it, because as soon as I had returned back to my room at the Alliance hostel, and had time to fiddle with the thing, I found his name added to my contacts. I was currently on the shuttle with the 30 odd other recruits on route to the three months of Basics Training, at one of the stations built for the purpose. Yeah they never actually told us the exact location of Boot Camp, all I knew was that it's about a 7 hour shuttle flight from the Luna Base.

Sighing I returned my eyes to assess my fellow recruits. Most of them were boys, and when I say that I mean at least 70% of the 30 odd recruits were males between the ages of 18 and 20. Only 20% of us were female, the remaining 3 were older men 1 was at least in his 40's. The young recruits had split up into groups, talking and carrying on like children. There was a smallish group that seemed to be the exception and I immediately could see why.

'Oh Jesus, it's worse than highschool, could you get more stereotypical?' I groaned internally.

'_You do realise you are younger than most of these recruits yes?'_ Nick returned back, sounding amused.

'I may be younger but I appear to be the most mature with the exception of those three older recruits' I growled exasperated, eyebrows furrowing as I observed the different groups. You could immediately pick up who were going to be the Soldiers, as they were the loudest and largest group of recruits, the slightly smaller group were surprisingly the Engineers, the smallest of the groups being the Adepts. There were several people who trailed between the different groups, which I assume to be the Infiltrators, Sentinels and Vanguards

'_I have to agree with you there, apparently inter-dimensional travel causes one to mature faster.' _Nick mused, I shook my head and chuckled under my breath.

'You picked me for a reason, don't think I don't know Nicodemus.' I grinned out the shuttle window, at his response.

'_I have no idea what you're talking about Tabitha.'_ his voice telling of his amusement. In the distance, I could make out the shuttles destination. Built into a rather large asteroid was a station. Smirking slightly I shot a glance towards the other recruits before returning my eyes to my home for the next three months.

~8~

**Alliance Boot Camp, Unknown location, Sol System, May 4th 2173.**

Boot Camp is Hell. Of this I am absolutely certain. The moment we were herded off the shuttle we were assessed by our current abilities and separated into different training regiments, Alpha, Beta and Omega. Each regiment had a different difficulty of training regime, and I wasn't all that surprised to find myself to be in the lowest difficulty, Omega regiment. I wasn't anywhere near fit enough for the highest difficulty I knew that much. But what they didn't tell us, although I suppose I should have known, was that the purpose of the different regiments was to train us all to be able to successfully complete the highest difficulty training Alpha recruits could and above.

This generally meant that if you were in the Omega regiment you had triple the work of the other two regiments. And why they assigned the most sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic asshole to train us I have no idea. All I knew was that every single day I had to try not to punch the fucker in the balls. Not to mention that some of the recruits in Alpha regiment sucked up to the Corporal, and did so by being sexist pricks. Although I soon discovered that out of the 6 female recruits present, that I was the one to receive the most taunting and physical abuse. The oldest recruit Gerry, had taken me under his wing and helped to moderate the amount of shit the Alpha recruits threw at me, they really only laid off when he was around because he was also in the Alpha regiment.

Corporal Hastings, the officer in charge of Omega regiment had some deep seated hate for me though, and would constantly push me past my limit, until I was practically unconscious. Although according to Nick, this particular type of training while it could be incredibly detrimental had actually been helping me get better, as my body was getting used to the training little by little. Plus the part of the training that would have crippled me, was in fact the mental abuse and strain, and Nick's ever constant presence helped to counteract those adverse effects. He turned their cruel words into encouragement and motivation which in turn helped me power on through the physical training. Hastings had us run through drill upon drill, weapons training, physical training and even tactics training, though that was mainly group work with mixed groups made up of recruits from all 3 regiments.

By the end of the second month, I had lost all of my previous baby fat to pure muscle and for the first time ever I could run several kilometers without breaking a sweat. It was a rather satisfying feeling to be able to look at myself in the mirror and feel happy with the results. I'd never really been one for positive self image, always somehow finding something wrong with the way I looked, a side effect from the words of my peers while I was still at high school.

My hair had also grown longer and I was having a hard time keeping it back constantly, so I was considering cutting it, as it was now falling to the middle of my back in dark waves. The gene therapy I was put through before Basics had really begun to make a difference, my eyesight had been corrected, which had improved my reaction time and allowed me to do more physically as I was no longer afraid of my glasses breaking. Physically the only thing that hadn't changed about me was my height, I was still short. I had gained maybe 2 inches in height from the gene therapy, but was otherwise sill short, especially in comparison to the other recruits. I was shaken from my musings by the call of my name.

"Jamieson you're up!" glancing at the scowling Corporal, I rolled my eyes and picked up the Assault Rifle on the bench in front of me.

"Yes Sir." I answered neutrally, hefting the Lancer I a few times before walking up to the shooting range. Omega recruits were going through their internal ranking as we were on our last 4 weeks of training. The VI logged me in, showing my past scores in each of the weapon areas, I was quite happy to see that I was still ranked first in sniper rifles and was fifth in pistols, assault rifles was in the top 15% , but blanched at my current ranking for shotguns, the bottom 20%. Nick had been a great help in my development as he was able to help me physically adjust to a weapon faster by giving me detailed instruction, while our actual weapons instructors were too busy with the other recruits. Taking stance I brought up the rifle and settled, slowing my breathing down while eyeing the targets.

"Begin Jamieson." Hastings roared. Sighing in exasperation I pulled the trigger, shoulder set for the Lancer's recoil. Delivering short bursts of fire, I took down the 10 targets in no time. Lowering the rifle I turned with a slight smirk, grey eyes meeting enraged blue, as the VI recited my new scores.

" 93% accuracy, 34% overheat, exercise completed in 00:43 seconds. Jamieson T. Ranked 3rd Assault Rifles." a few cheers went up, making me chuckle as Hastings went bluer in the face.

"If it makes you feel any better Sir, I'm still rubbish at shotguns" I smirked, knowing from experience Hastings would do nothing but send me out for extra laps or add to my exercises for my cheek.

"30 extra laps Jamieson! And 500 push ups."

"Sir! Yes Sir!" I saluted, still smirking. Really the guy would have been dead if it wasn't for Nick. Hastings was a disgusting little worm, who got off on demoralizing people and killing, and I'd come close to almost killing the guy with my bare hands several times. Probably would have ended up in a fuck tonne of trouble if it wasn't for my regiment.

Being considered the weakest of the recruits the 10 of us in Omega had become relatively friendly with one another, and within the first 2 weeks or so I had found myself being made the unofficial leader of the regiment. Something about having more balls then the rest of them, that had made Nick laugh. Omega had been made up of 2 biotics; one an adept the other a sentinel, the other 6, engineers, 1 soldier and myself.

I was called up to complete the other weapons taking out first in sniper rifles again with the highest score out of all the current recruits across all three recruit groups. Moving up to second place in pistols out of all the recruits and moving up to the top 10% in assault rifles. I surprised even myself and nearly caused Hastings a coronary by getting in the top 50 % with shotguns, though that might've only been because I'd been picturing the targets as Hastings. After the rankings had been given, we were sent on to do exercises in which Hastings was cruel and tried to coax a response out me by adding ridiculous numbers onto my already ridiculous workout before we were dismissed. Groaning I stretched out my now aching muscles as I walked with Omega back to base.

"Ughh Hastings is a demon" Omega's resident soldier, Oscar Arlington grunted, leaning back to stretch his spine.

"I think you mean he_ is_ Satan, Oscar" the only other female in the regiment laughed.

"Shut up Freya" the blonde American biotic just smiled at the Englishman.

"You've improved Hen, you place in the top 5 out of all the recruits across all three regiments." The quiet voice of Omega's Japanese engineer sounded beside me. I threw a glance at the 25 year old Tatsuya, grimacing at the nickname, he had gone to university and received his Bachelor of Science and Engineering with Honours before he'd decided his skills would be of better use to the Alliance. The group had just entered the building and were heading towards the mess hall for a feed, before showering and chilling for the rest of the evening.

"I'm not the only one Hirota-san, we have all improved. But thank you." I responded smiling lightly at the man. One of the first things I had asked upon meeting the man was how he would prefer to be addressed. I must have surprised him, because he had taken several moments to reply, but he had seemed grateful for the respect of his culture.

"Even if we have improved Hen, you have surpassed us all." Freya supplemented cheerfully, throwing an arm over my shoulders.

"Why must you call me that ridiculous nickname." I hissed exasperatedly, throwing an icy glare at the American girl, earning laughter from half the regiment and amused looks from the other half.

"Because you're our very own Mother Hen, TJ" Aakash chuckled, looking up with a grin from fiddling with his omni-tool. I sighed heavily in exasperation, as his response, caused another round of laughter to sound from the group. We entered the mess only to come face to face with the jocks of Alpha regiment, when I said that Basics was like highschool I was more than serious.

"Oh lookie here boys, Omega's finally scraped themselves off the floor from training." Jackson Mueller laughed snidely, the other boys in his little group tittering away like children.

"Because we all look so tired Mueller, laughing and joking around?" I retorted, rolling my eyes as I slipped out of Freya's loosened grip and stood tall in front of my regiment, arms crossed and feet shoulder width apart, although it didn't do much as I only reached his shoulders in height. I meet Mueller's eyes unwaveringly, despite having to look up at him, when his jaw snapped closed and head turned to face me.

"You guys are too weak to not be." the buff 18 year old snarled. I just blinked at him a few times, before a laugh bubbled from my lips. My laughter drew the attention of all the other recruits who had been trying to avoid the confrontation.

"That makes no sense whatsoever" I gasped out in between chuckles. Earning a few nervous chuckles and snorts from our audience. "Mueller I know you're stupid but I though you at least had a grasp on the English language" I smirked, calming myself. A unified gasp came from the other recruits.

"Why you!" the brute roared charging me, I sidestepped and brought my leg around to roundhouse kick him in the back just as he charged past me, the force sent him to the ground, where he landed on his face, and a sickening crack told me he'd broken his nose.

"Mueller, I suggest you go and deal with your nose. And remember to tell Dr. Daniels that you were beaten by a girl, she'd just love to hear that." I sneered at him before walking away, Omega following me and forming up around me like an honour guard, the other recruits went back to their previous conversations and food.

"Hen, was that really necessary? You know he's going to be after you for the rest of Boot Camp yeah?" Oscar murmured from my right, I glanced up at him.

"Oh I know, but he needs to know that Omega isn't going to back down to anyone's insults anymore, we're going to fight back. I know for a fact that at least half of us if not more could take him in hand-to-hand, so he needs to get off his goddamn high horse, and realise the weak don't stay weak, we get stronger." I responded with a shrug.

'_You are becoming quite the leader aren't you Hen.'_ Nick's amused voice filtered through my head.

'Apparently, I'd like to see if it'd be the same if they realised I was 10 years younger than Hirota-san.' I retorted with a small quirk of my lips.

'_Hmmm indeed. That would be quite interesting.'_ he responded, before going silent. I internally rolled my eyes at him before returning my attention solely to my regiment.

"You alright there Hen. You zoned out." Aakash asked worriedly. His concern showing on the faces of most of the regiment.

"Yeah, just remembering a line from a musical. 'You'd never kick a dog, because he's just a pup, you'd better run for cover when the pup grows up.' Suits us, doesn't it." I chuckled.

"That's from the 20th Century isn't it? Les Miserables?" Tatsuya inquired, looking at me curiously.

"Mmhmm, great musical, have you seen the vids?" I replied casually, aware now that it wasn't uncommon for people to recite pop culture reference from the 21st century, but something like Les Mis, was in the 'acquired taste' archives.

"Yes, and I do agree. Wouldn't have pegged you for a Musical fan though." he returned, still looking at me curiously.

"My mum was a massive fan, she'd downloaded the music from all sorts of musicals and used to have them playing all the time." I answered carefully, hoping that the subject would drop. Tatsuya had obviously noticed my guarded expression and sent an apologetic look my way.

"Sorry Hen, it's just rare to find someone who enjoys old musicals like I do." I just waved off his apology

"Don't worry about it Hirota-san, I can understand your curiosity." after that Omega split up to get food, before taking our usual seats and picking up our usual banter. After dinner, I hunted down the showers. Stepping under the pleasantly hot spray, I allowed it to rain over me for several moments, as I emptied my head of useless thoughts.

'_Only 4 more weeks to go, then you'll be off to the AMA. You ready for this TJ? It's only going to get more hellish from now on.' _Nick inquired. Jolting slightly at his voice, I sighed and began to scrub my body of the sweat and grime that had accumulated over the day.

'I'll deal with it as it comes, not much else I can do. I'm more concerned about the Engineering component of becoming an Infiltrator, I haven't been here long enough to fiddle around with my omni-tool nor research what I should know.' I responded, enjoying the fresh scent of vanilla and mangoes of my bodywash, before starting on my dark hair.

'_I can help you there, get ready, information transfer commencing'_ he voiced before a wave of information crashed through my head, I learned everything from quantum mechanics and physics through to general physics, coding, hacking, cracking, and tech maintenance. _'Transfer complete. I've just downloaded all the information you'll be both learning and should have already known had you had more time to assimilate to this universe.'_ Nick's voice felt like it was splitting open my head, a groan left my lips, and I realised that in my shock I must have collapsed, as I was now lying on the floor of the shower stall, the still hot spray of the shower washing over me.

'Fuck, a little more warning next time Nick, and since when could you do that?' I growled internally, as I got to my feet slowly. My head was throbbing horrifically, and I wasn't sure if it was from the data transfer or from hitting it on the tiled floor.

'_Apologies TJ, wasn't expecting it to be so vicious. Pain should begin to disappear soon.'_ at least he'd sounded apologetic. And as he'd assumed, the throbbing soon began to dissipate, leaving me with a dull ache, that with some painkillers would be gone.

'So, when were you planning on telling me you could do that?' I asked, as I continued washing my hair, rinsing it of the shampoo, before conditioning it.

'_I'm surprised I haven't mentioned it already, it must have slipped my mind. Apologies TJ. Anyway, the data I just transferred to you should give you an edge, as you were rather disadvantaged, by the lack of time to assimilate in this universe.'_ he answered, I rinsed my hair before shutting off the shower. Grabbing a towel I dried off, and pulled on a pair of cargo pants and a plain black, fitted t-shirt, over my sports bra.

'Right so I'll need to go through everything you just transferred then. If only to understand the information.' I responded, gathering my belongings I headed for my bunk. Leaving the women's washroom, I spotted Mueller headed my way. Rather than have another confrontation I turned down the hall and quickly made my way into the women's sleep space. Which thankfully, had a security system that only allowed authorized males entry into the area. Authorization Mueller did not have, the door slid shut behind me and locked just as Mueller rounded the corner. The rage he expressed at missing his target was incredibly funny, but I knew I would have to deal with it sooner or later. But right at that moment, I couldn't be bothered, so instead I walked towards my bunk, dumped my belongings into my footlocker and flopped onto the standard military issue rock of a mattress. I spent the next few hours reviewing all the data Nick had transferred into my head, before I fell into the sweet abyss of sleep.

~8~

**Alliance Boot Camp, Unknown location, Sol System, June 30th 2173.**

Four weeks had passed by slowly as the training picked up it's hellish pace. Mueller as expected continued to try and get back at me for embarrassing him, but he eventually got shot down by Gerry so bad, he was ordered by the Drill Sergeants to keep his distance from me. Which worked out well for me, as I then only had to deal with Hastings. Although he had apparently also received a reprimand, it only served to make him worse than before. All of our drills and tactical run through became torture exercises, our physical exercises were raised to ridiculous levels and he would keep us from sleep by waking us up at the crack of dawn and not dismissing us until close to 10 o'clock in the evening. The mess ended up staying open specifically for Omega regiment, just so we could have at least one proper meal a day. But as Hastings was the highest ranked officer on base, there was little the others could do. But it was all worth it in the end, all of the punishing training had made each member of Omega regiment stronger and faster at each of the areas. So when it came to the final assessment, every single member of Omega took out the top 10 spots on the score board. To say Hastings was enraged by our newly found skills, was the understatement of the galaxy. Omega celebrated grandly that night, at the end of training party that was held for all recruits.

It was now time for the Graduation ceremony, I was standing tall at the head of Omega's regiment, with the towering giant Oscar backing me up. All the recruits had woken to find a brand new set of dress blues waiting for us on our foot lockers. We had been arranged in columns of our regiments , the highest scoring individual per regiment in the lead position. I was extremely proud of my achievements, although I think watching a red faced Corporal Hastings while Admiral Hackett finished his congratulatory speech, was my ultimate achievement.

'_You are very easily pleased TJ.'_ Nick chuckled in my head, making my smirk even more exaggerated.

'Can you really blame me?' I shot back, eyes on the Admiral as he stepped down from the podium, Corporal Hastings then took his position up on the podium to begin calling out the names of highest scorers, to come forward first. Scowling the red face man started to explain the order in which he would call out our names, and that we were to approach the Admiral in our acceptance of our new rank as Private 2nd Class. His face turned blue as he made weird choking sound as he looked down at the first name. A small grin danced around my lips as Admiral Hackett looked over at the Corporal in what looked like concern for his mental health.

"Our highest scoring individual recruit... has surpassed all... obstacles... thrown her way, and has provided a exquisite example of... leadership throughout her training." Hastings chocked out, his scowl deepening as he glared daggers at me. I let my face drop into a humble neutrality, my eyes sparkling as the man continued to choke on his words. " I am... pleased... to welcome Miss Tabitha Jamieson into the ranks of the Systems Alliance as Private 2nd Class. Private Jamieson, please come forward to receive your rank from the Admiral." I broke from the column and walked calmly towards the Admiral, a small smile of pride settling on my lips. Coming to a stop in front of the man, I saluted the Admiral before settling into a resting stance.

"Congratulations Private, I hope you serve the Alliance with pride and with honour." he held out his hand, and I took it.

"Thank you Sir, I will do my best." he just smiled as he handed over my star rank that would be sewn on to my dress blues.

"That's all we ask." with that I was dismissed with a salute which I returned, turning sharply on my heel I marched to the rehearsed position and stood at attention. I watched a warm smile on my face, as the rest of the Omega recruits joined my side. Pride filling me each member that passed by me. Once all the recruits had received their ranks, we stood at attention to recite the Alliance Oath. A simple induction oath, all newly ranked servicemen and women were required to make. Once that was completed we were supposed to be able to leave position and mull around with the guests that had come to watch. However instead all of the members of Omega broke from position and moved forward as one, falling into our regimental positions in front of me. Oscar however did not fall in, but instead walked up to the podium, sending a nod towards Admiral Hackett before taking up behind the microphone. It was only then that I realised all the other recruits had taken a step back. Leaving me in the middle of the grounds with my regiment in position in front of me. My eyes were wide in my shock and my mouth fell open to ask what was going on.

"Wha..." but I interrupted by Oscar who was looking directly at me with a mischievous smile.

"As the second in command of Omega regiment it is my great pleasure to introduce our unofficial Commander, Private Tabitha Jamieson. When we first arrived, fresh off the shuttle all recruits were sorted into regiments, Omega originally being for those of lacking physicality. Under the leadership of Jamieson, every single recruit that was sorted into Omega, topped the scoring records, a first in the history of the Systems Alliance. She led a group of weak recruits and encouraged us to push ourselves and unlock our potential. Despite the lack of support and even constant belittling from the other regiments and even our own assigned Training Officer, Jamieson pulled not only herself but the rest of the regiment through, keeping up morale when things became bleak. As such we would like to call on Admiral Hackett to award Private Jamieson with her promotion to Private 1st Class." I was in shock, my brain had stopped functioning as it tried to process what was happening. Hackett stepped forward and walked towards me, he stopped a foot in front of me. A proud smile adorning his features.

"Another Congratulations is in order I believe Private. You have made an outstanding impression on these recruits and as a result on the Alliance Brass." he explained as he shook my hand again handing over my updated ranking.

"But how Sir? This is unheard of." I responded, eyes wide as I stared at the rank patch.

"We received several applications from your teammates, some of the other recruits and some of the Drill Sergeants over 6 weeks ago to have you observed for a promotion in rank. We had a team of Alliance Officers observe you and your achievements and you have suitably impressed every single member of the observation team. Your ability to rally people to your side against a common enemy and to bring out the best in those you work alongside is a skill the Alliance is interested in. We are also interested in cultivating your other skills to the betterment of humanity. As a result you qualified for a promotion despite having only just finished your initial training." Hackett explained throwing a smile over at Omega regiment, Oscar and several of the Drill Sergeants. I stared wide eyed at them for a moment before a small smile tugged at my lips.

"Thank you for the honour sir, I'll do my absolute best for the Alliance. You won't regret this." I saluted, regaining my composure.

"Oh I know we won't. If your performance during training was anything to go by we expect great things from you." he winked, saluting back. With the formalities finally over with the recruits broke away from each other and began to mingle with their family and friends. I smiled as I looked about at the happy faces of all the new servicemen and women. I was taken by surprise when I was almost tackled to the ground by the hyper blonde American biotic. I actually did fall when she was followed by Aakash and Oscar.

"Gahh, Ge'roff me you nutters!" I gasped, trying to breathe despite the weight deposited on my back and ribcage.

"I don't think she can breathe, let her up before you suffocate her" The gruff voice of the honourary member of Omega came. It wasn't long before I could breathe again, I just rolled onto my back for a few moments breathing deeply. Before being helped to my feet by Tatsuya, and dusted off by Gerry.

"Thanks Gerry, wouldn't know what I'd do without you" I beamed at the older man, who just chuckled and ruffled my hair, ruining the neat ponytail it had been in for the ceremony.

"Oh my god Hen, you know you're the second person in 34 years to get a double promotion straight out of Basics?!" Freya screamed throwing herself at me once again. I actually managed this time to stop us from falling over.

"Who was the first?" I asked patting Freya's shoulder to calm her excitement.

"Private Jonathan Shepard. Though most believe that he was promoted because of who his mother is and father was." Oscar answered as Freya was still too hyperactive to respond.

"What did he actually receive it for?" my questioned earned a shrug from Oscar and the orange glow of Aakash's omni-tool.

"Says here, _Jonathan David Shepard was awarded a promotion to Private 1__st__ Class for outstanding results in Basics training and the immense potential for leadership and skills that would lead to the betterment of humanity. _I feel like that just saying he was the highest scoring recruit in over 50 years, along with him having become the unofficial leader of all three regiments during his time at Basics." the Indian engineer reported, eyes scanning the flickering letters on his omni-tool.

"That's impressive, so exactly how did I manage to get a promotion?" I laughed weakly.

"Because you managed to get your entire regiment to take out the highest scores. You also were only a few points down from Shepard's score, if you could aim a shotgun better you'd have knocked out his record." Oscar responded teasingly. I just stared at him in disbelief.

"What? Joking about my inability to shoot straight with a shotgun aside, my score was only a few points down from Shepard's!?" I asked my voice going up a few octaves in my shock.

"Yep, and from what I hear Shepard's already getting observed for N training." Freya added with a beaming smile "You could get scouted too Hen, how cool would that be?!"

"Ah yes. Totally awesome Freya. I think I need to sit down." I muttered in response staggering under the weight of what I'd just been told.

'_You didn't think you were that good did you.'_ Nick's stated disapprovingly.

'Of course I didn't, I've never been good at anything in my life. My old life...' I shouted back internally. Responding with a nod to Tatsuya's " Are you okay?"

"Mmm I just never thought I would ever be good at anything. Its quite the surprise" I responded smiling weakly at my friends.

'_Tabitha you were always meant to be good at this, just not in the other world. This is where you were meant to be born, this is who you were born to be.'_ Nick's voice resounded in my head, his pride conveyed through not just his words but his tone. I felt my eyes fill with tears, though I refused to let them fall.

"You should be so proud of yourself Hen. You aren't just good at this, it's like its who you were born to be!" Freya said cheerily. Laughter bubbled from my lips at the her unknowingly echoing Nick's words.

"Perhaps, but lets not get ahead of ourselves Freya." I responded with a chuckle. I was soon whisked away on Oscar and Gerry's shoulders to the Graduation After Party to which I don't really remember much, although Nick like to remind me every so often about events that occurred much to my dismay. It wasn't long after that that the recruits were shipped out to the Alliance Militant Academy, lovingly referred to as either the AMA or simply the Academy. I wasn't sure at the time what to expect but what I got was definitely not it.

~8~

**Alliance Military Academy, orbiting Titan, Sol System July 3rd ****2173.**

The Academy itself was a space station constructed after the reactivation of the Charon Relay, I still found it increasingly odd that the Academy was never mentioned in the Games, nor was the Alliance training really explained in detail. I had spent most of the trip from Basics to the Academy researching the AMA's history, it had been a rather boring trip and Nick had been silent the entire time leaving me not much else to do. The Systems Alliance had advocated it's construction in 2151, two years after the Charon Relay had been reactivated and showed no adverse effects when used.

Their initial plan was for it to help to calm those who were still wary of the unification of all of Earth's Military's, and also put a stop to the bickering that had begun over where the Alliance should make their capital. The Academy's construction was finalized in 2153, and the System Alliance moved itself, and it's training facilities to the space station. The AMA became their main base of operation and served to train the first Alliance Marines. It was also due to it's proximity to the moon Titan, that Saturn's moon was used for hostile environment training and facilities were constructed on the surface of the moon, for future use.

I found it quite interesting that a single space station could have such an intriguing history only 20 years after it's first establishment. I was torn from my research from the shuttle transport's VI alerting us to our approach to the Academy. I glanced around the shuttle smiling at my friends, the Omega recruits may have dropped the term Omega but we still remained as close as we had at Basics, oh well most of us did at least.

Freya was currently sleeping with her head in my lap, Oscar was watching some sort of action vid on his omni-tool, while Tatsuya (he'd finally snapped at me telling me that we'd known each other long enough to drop the formalities) and Aakash were playing some kind of card game. Gerry was sat next to me staring out the window solemnly at the approaching space station. I went back to my omni-tool, learning that the AMA had in fact been the Systems Alliance's capital for the years before Arcturus Station was built. A nudge in my side alerted me to the shuttle docking, sending a grateful smile at Gerry who ruffled my hair in response I woke Freya and stood from the seat, swinging my duffle bag filled with my belongings over my shoulder.

"Well we're here" I grinned bouncing on the balls of my feet. Earning laughter from the ex-Omega recruits.

"We certainly are. You ready for this Hen?" Gerry teased placing a large warm hand on my head.

"I am, although something tells me this isn't going to be a walk in the park" I responded cheekily. Never have my words been more true. If Basics was like highschool, the Academy was like a Kindergarten of bratty children. We were herded into a massive lecture theatre and seated with another 200 or so people from the other Boot Camps with Alliance jurisdiction. Before being lectured at for 2 hours about the rules and regulations of the Academy and how it was run. We were then split up into our preferred fields of training, and I was herded away from my friends with the other Infiltrator trainee hopefuls. I was led on a tour among the group of at least 30 other people through the space-station before we were finally shown to our bunks. We were split up male and female in each of our classes so I was to bunk with the other 12 female trainee's. It hadn't even been a few minutes since we'd been left alone that I was accosted by a trio of trainee's.

"Oi, you! Shortshit" came a English voice, looking away from my footlocker I was faced by three women, all three looked to be fresh out of highschool.

"That's a little rude don't you think." I responded straightening from my crouch, before turning to face them properly.

"I don't give a shit. You Jamieson?" the blonde woman in the middle sneered, she was of medium height so she wasn't all that much taller than me, and had an English accent pegging her to have been the one to speak earlier.

"Who's asking?" I retorted, crossing my arms in front of my chest, which was quite a bit larger than hers, if her glare intensifying was any indication.

"Marielle Beresford, now are you Jamieson or not." she answered, her face scrunched up in distaste.

"Pleasure, Tabitha Jamieson at your delightful service" I replied sarcastically, shifting my stance slightly, eyeing the blonde English woman.

"Good. Now I don't know what stunt you pulled to get promoted to Private 1st Class, but I don't care. You lot will listen to me while we're here, else its going to be a very long four years" Beresford snapped out ending on a sickly sweet tone, addressing the other female trainees as well.

"Establishing dominance are we? I didn't realise we were pack animals." I counted, eyebrow raised. I will admit it was probably not my smartest move.

"Fuck you Jamieson, you may think you deserve to be a leader but you have to earn it, don't just expect to get it on a silver platter." I snorted at the blonde's sneered response.

"Uh huh, riiiight so what exactly are you trying to do then?" I smirked at her when I was awarded with a few snickers and giggles from the other girls.

"You've done it now Jamieson, I tried to be nice, but you just had to be a bitch. I'm going to make your life hell on earth for the next four years." she snarled getting in my face. I simply raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"Bring it on Beresford. I can take anything you throw at me." Beresford hissed at me before strutting away. It took all I had not to burst into laughter as the girl left, her posse close on her tail. I still snorted though as I turned back to my footlocker. Man this was going to be ridiculous few years.

~8~

**Alliance Military Academy, orbiting Titan, Sol System October 19****th****2173.**

Man was I right. Beresford had managed to scare all the other girls into some form of submission by the end of the week. Although they half of them remained indifferent to me rather than simply picking the blond's side which showed at least a small number where mature. It hadn't taken long to figure Beresford out, she was a Daddy's girl, and Daddy was one of the higher ups. Rear- Admiral Beresford was one of the two Rear-Admirals on the Alliance Admiralty Board. It wasn't difficult to search on from there to find that Marielle Beresford threw her father's position around like an ID. And did she, within a month at the AMA she and my old friend Mueller (please take note of the heavy use of sarcasm there) had teamed up in an attempt to ruin my life.

I'd had to build a combination lock for my footlocker that would let loose a low voltage Overload on any one that wasn't authorized access, and couldn't be hacked as I'd incorporated as many traps and false loopholes as physically possible. During the free time given to all trainee's to encourage friendships with other classes, Beresford and Mueller would always try their best to piss me off only for them to get chased away by my ex-teammates. My birthday passed without much incident, and I was dealing with the training well enough, with minor hiccups due to Beresford trying and failing to _"put me in my place"_.

October had rolled around and I'd managed to keep a relatively low profile, if we ignore Beresford and Mueller following me around like puppies. Nick had pointed out Jonathon Shepard out to me my first week at the AMA, and since then had kept an eye out for him. He was a tall guy, Caucasian, golden hair that curled softly but was kept short, a short beard that met regulations, straight nose, nice eyebrows. His eyes were green, not hazel but pure green, they were rather pretty actually. He wasn't overly buff, instead he was rather lithe with well defined muscles. If what Beresford and her posse giggled over like school children was to be believed Shepard was number one on the Hotties List. Much to my amusement and Oscar's distress, since he'd gained some muscle, he had managed to make it to number three on Beresford's Hotties List. Which usually meant she tried her best to flirt with Oscar while pestering me. Everything had been going fine until the Academy had informed us that the first and second year cadets were going to be having a hand-to-hand combat round robin.

"Each of you will be expected to perform at your absolute best. The competition will be held over the next few weeks. There will be three separate finals, one for our female trainees, one for our male trainee's and the last finals will be mixed, male vs females. The only way to participate in the mixed final is to become one of the top 10 trainee's in your section." As soon as the words had been said, loud groans filled the hall. I sighed heavily.

'_Sounds like you have a lot to think about.' _Nick murmured, I just groaned internally.

'To do my best and potentially meet Shepard in the finals. Or flunk it and remain under the radar.'

'_And disappoint yourself, your friends and the Alliance.'_ Nick finished.

"I've really got no choice do I?" I muttered aloud, earning a few glances from the people around me. Sighing I stood up straighter, shoulders back as determination spread across my features as my eyes returned to the stage.

...

'_You do. But you've already made your decision'_ Nick smiled.

...

**Alliance Military Academy, orbiting Titan, Sol System November 2****nd****2173.**

Two weeks had passed and throughout that time period, somehow, the academy had scheduled all the first and second year cadets through the preliminary rounds. I sighed as I approached the Tournament Chart and found my name on the first Female semi finals lists. They had planned to do the semi finals and the finals all on the one day. Semi's in the morning and after lunch the Finals. The mixed finals would be the following day. They we're going to be running 4 floors for the girls and 4 for the boys simultaneously until we hit the top 4 from each gender.

They'd told any non binary or transgender cadets to sign up for the competition stream they wished to compete in. I smiled a bit at that, it was such a vast difference to the way people from my original time would've handled something like that, but it was good. I shook my head to clear it checking to find out which floor I would be fighting on. They're were 20 girls who had made it to the semi's, and it was the same for the guys. Most of us would be fighting again the following day but today's finals were ranking us according to gender, while the mixed finals were about overall rankings.

"Floor 3, first up too. Oh isn't this fantastic..." I groaned spying the name of one of Beresford's lackeys as my opponent.

"Ouch girl, you got it hard." the American lilt of Freya's voice caught my attention. Turning my head I saw her blonde hair and brown eyed features very close to my face. Forcing myself not to flinch I took a step away.

"Hello Freya, I didn't hear you coming?" I queried with a slight glare.

"Yeah The Adepts have been learning how to cloak themselves with biotics to help us with stealth missions. It's really great for sneaking up on people. Though I was hoping for a bit more of a reaction from you." she explained excitedly before her face morphed into a pout.

"I can tell. Sorry to have ruined your fun." I deadpanned.

"Heeen~ you're no fun!" she pouted, her voice taking on a whine like quality.

"My apologies." I retorted, before smirking at her. "You'll do better next time I'm sure." I teased. Which earned me a slight zap of dark energy from Freya, laughing I jumped away, waving as I maneuvered through the building crowd to my Floor. When I reached it I dumped my bag and shed myself of the hoodie I'd had on leaving me in three quarter length leggings, a sport bra and a loose tank top. I pulled my hair back into a bun, once again noting it's length before shrugging it off and beginning to stretch and warm up. Beresfield had apparently chosen to cheer her lackey on as she approached the Floor with them both. I rolled my eyes as Beresfield went about giving her lackey a pep talk, before going back to my warm up. As the clock neared 9 am Earth Standard time, one of the officials approached me to explain what was going to happen while I taped my knuckles and hands. I was then led to the center of the 'ring' where I met the lackey.

"Oh your going to go down Jamieson." she sneered.

"Certain are you?" I laughed, "You'll need to work for that." the fake brunette snarled, and as soon as the bell rang she pounced at me. I easily sidestepped, bring my right elbow into her kidney making her cry out, as she lost balance, she was quickly back on her feet, but I easily evaded or blocked her attacks, dropping into a crouch to dodge her roundhouse kick, and using her imbalance to drop her to the ground again by sweeping her legs out from under her.

"Come on TJ, stop defending, start attacking!" I heard Oscar yell from the sidelines, glancing over I smirked when I saw all of my friends watching my match. With a nod I swapped tactics, forcing the lackey into defensive maneuvers within minutes, she was on the ground groaning in pain. She wasn't getting up any time soon that's for sure. I was quickly swept up into a group hug as I was announced winner of the match.

"Jeez she didn't last long did she?" Freya giggled as she handed me a water bottle.

"She might've if I hadn't started attacking when I did." I responded taking a sip before recapping it.

"Your match lasted a total of 14 minutes and 46 seconds TJ. That was amazing you've got one of the fastest wins yet, maybe you'll set a new record." Aakash exclaimed tallying the matches total against my previous wins.

"Yeah we'll see, she was angry so she was constantly making mistakes" Oscar commented winking at me to let me know he believed it possible too.

"Hey guys, lemme bask in my victory for a moment before I think about my next fight." I laughed waving them away. My next few matches went the same way, I'd defend for the first few minutes, observing they're style before jumping on to the attack and taking them down in less than 10 minutes. Each match I got quicker at taking my opponent down, and it wasn't long until I was sitting at the top of the leader board. By the end of the Semi's only Beresfield and I were the only first year cadets in the top 4 females. We broke for lunch after the finalists for both genders had been announced, and I was swept away by Freya and Aakash, with Oscar, Tatsuya, and Gerry following along.

"You gotta take Beresfield down TJ." I looked up from my food, concerned at the over serious tone she was using.

"I'd planned on, but why the seriousness need?" my expression growing more confused as my eyes met hard blue.

"She's been playing dirty this whole time, she's payed some people to flunk a fight so she can take on weak opponents, she's been fighting dirty in her matches as well, the only reason she beat me was because she incapacitated me by almost breaking both my kneecaps." the blonde answered her voice never losing the seriousness.

"The Bitch did what?!" I snarled, half getting to my feet before Oscar pulled me back down.

"After analyzing the footage of Freya's match against several others Beresfield has fought in, it's easy to tell whose been bought off versus who she's been fighting dirty against." Aakash explained showing me the footage from several of Beresfield's matches.

"Why haven't you reported her?" I demanded.

"Because she may have bought off several of the officials. We have to wait until Operations Chief Huang is at the matches for anything to be done. She's going to be at this afternoon's matches so hopefully when you take on Beresfield you can oust her." Oscar stated, I backed down slightly and began to go over my options.

"So stay on the defensive, gotcha. This bitch is in for the biggest reality check of her life." I smirked, Freya shuddered.

"I know you're ready to take her down but you're eyes have gone almost black and it's terrifying." the blonde complained. With a roll of my eyes we went back to eating, my thoughts focused on how I was going to humiliate Beresfield while also making her pay.

...

As we had expected Beresfield and I were the two female finalists as we had both won our previous matches. Glancing over at the judges' box I smirked when I my eyes landed on Chief Huang. Beresfield had no chance of not being disciplined for her actions. Operations Cheif Huang was a stern woman, who highly valued honesty, self advancement, ambition and loyalty. Which were all the things Beresfield wasn't, except maybe ambitious, although it did her no good.

"Jamieson, the match is about to begin." I snapped my attention back to the official who had been looking after me.

"Yes Sir." I responded shucking off my hoodie and went about warming up, stretching out my muscles and jogging on the spot to get my blood pumping. Nothing too strenuous, I was aware that despite Beeresfield's cheating she was still quite talented. It wasn't long before I was led to the mat. With a quick look around I noticed that the men's championship must have finished because it seemed as if the entire bloody station was there to witness this final. Shaking my head, I spotted my friends who waved and cheered as I stepped onto the mat, I smirked and sent a wink at Freya, freezing slightly when I noticed that Jonathon Shepard was stood not a row away from her. He'd been one of the 2 finalists in the men's championship, and from the looks of it had walked away the winner. His green eyes met mine for a moment before I broke eye contact having heard footsteps approach from my right. Turning my head my eyes narrowed at the smug smirk Beresfield wore as she stepped onto the mat. It was only a matter of moments later that the match was declared started

"Ready to get kicked off the station Jamieson?" she snarked, circling me. I stayed still only following her with a turn of my head.

"Off the station? Are you sure you weren't knocked in the head in one of your matches Beresfield?" I ducked her swing and tumbled out of the way of a kick, jumping back to my feet within moments.

"I'm going to prove to everyone here that you cheated yourself into that promotion!" she responded smugly, as she came at me again, I dodged once more, dancing out of the way

"Cheated? The only one here who cheats Beresfield is you. I heard all about how you used Daddy dearests hard earned credits to bribe the officials and your opponents. Not very honest of you Beresfield. What would Daddy think?" I responded, smirking as she gritted her teeth and snarled at me. She was getting angry now, so she'd be more desperate to shut me up. Especially as the judges' box could hear anything that was said on the mat.

"At least I have parents Jamieson." she bit out lunged for me, deciding that enough was enough I avoided her clawed hands by gripping her wrists and knocking her feet out from under her before letting go and stepping away.

"Ah yes the age old reminder of what I lack. My parents might be dead Beresfield, but I have a perfectly good family thank back to your cheating, Trying to break Freya's kneecaps was just dirty, I saw the footage. " Beresfield was back on her feet and lunged at me again, this time going for a punch. Blocking the punch, retaliated with a punch to the abdomen, before having to grab the incoming ankle. "Oof, that was close Beresfield, you almost hit me." I taunted using the grip I had on her ankle to make her lose her balance and fall on her arse. I jumped over her attempt to knock me down and grinned.

"You bitch." she screeched. I raised my eyebrows at her as I dodged back from a series of punches, sidestepping I elbowed her as she passed making her stumble, and kicked out as she turned catching her in the stomach and sending her flying back. She caught herself before she fell and was back at me, this time using every trick she could to put me down. While Beresfield used her cheap tricks, I only retaliated within the rules. I hadn't really planned on winning the tournament, in fact the fact that Beresfields actions had ruined the tournament for all the women annoyed the hell out of me. At first this match was about getting her caught, but I began to want to win. To win this match would show Beresfield and her cronies exactly why I had got that promotion. With the desire to win coursing through me, I caught the fist flying towards my face and with a flurry of movement I had Beresfield on the mat both arms caught behind her back and my knee keeping her there. The official came over then declaring the match won. Releasing Beresfield, I got up off the mat and turned, only to have Nick screaming in my head

'_TJ! Behind you!'_ dropping to the floor I heard Beresfield hiss from behind me, I rolled out of the way of her kick and pushed myself back to my feet. I caught the next fist coming for me, and with the match over decided to end it as quickly as possible by throwing back my fist and slamming it into her jaw. The crack that sounded at the contact pulled a satisfied smirk from me. Letting go of her wrist and stepping back I watch her drop to her knees cradling her jaw.

"That's what you get for trying to hurt my family." I said simply turning my back on her again and walking off the mat . I was passed by a stormy faced Chief Huang who was stalking towards Beresfield. Glancing over my shoulder I smirked as I saw the blonde being lectured as she was led off the mat by two officials and the Chief.

"TJ!" at my name I turned just in time to be engulfed in a group hug.

"Hey guys." I managed before I was inundated by congratulations from Omega.

"You won!"

"That was amazing Hen."

"That last punch was killer TJ..." Oscar trailed off his eyes going wide as he looked over my shoulder.

"What's up Oscar?" I asked, looking over my shoulder my eyes widened. Jonathon Shepard was standing not three feet away obviously waiting for the guys to finish as he was staring directly at us.

"Is that Jon Shepard." Freya whispered. "And why is he waiting for you." Snapping out of my surprise, I cleared my throat.

"Ah, no idea. I'd better find out I suppose." I muttered back. Before disentangling myself from Freya and Aakash and straightening up. Shepard raised an eyebrow at me as I picked my way over to him.

"Hi. I saw you standing over here alone. Is there something I can help you with?" I asked awkwardly.

"No. I just came over to congratulate you, we'll be versing each other in the mixed tournament." he responded green eyes bright and a smirk on his handsome face

"Ah thanks. Congrats to you to. I'm sorry I couldn't watch your full match." I responded smiling slightly.

"I don't mind. I have to say you've got some awesome reflexes to have been able to dodge Beresfield's surprise attack." I blanched at his words. Those reflexes were only because Nick had warned me in time.

'_So. If you didn't have those reflexes me warning you would have done nothing.' _Nick retorted, conceding the spirits point I focused back on Shepard.

"Thanks. But I shouldn't have turned my back in the first place. Bad form on my part." Shepard nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps. I'm glad you beat her though. I'd heard about her cheating from some of the other cadets." he said stepping closer to avoid a group of officials and cadets packing up.

"Yeah, she tried to dislocate my friends knees in their match. I didn't want her to get away with it." I responded glancing back at Omega to find them laughing. Scowling at them they avoided my gaze.

"Well by the look of the Chief I doubt she did." Shepard chuckled, I grinned.

"No, no she didn't." we shared a grin over that.

"I never did like her or her cronies. It always felt like she was stalking me." he shuddered.

"Perhaps that because she was. Ever heard of the Hotties list?" I laughed as a expression of horror spread across his chiseled face.

"You mean she started that?" he demanded.

"She did. And you were Number one on the list. Number three is over there. Private Oscar Arlington, he's a good friend of mine actually." I answered, gesturing to Oscar as I spoke. "Did you want to meet my team? We are what left of the Omega regiment from Luna Boot Camp." I grinned.

"Yeah sure" he said falling in step with me as I led the way over to the group who were all looking rather scared now. I laughed at their expressions, Shepard was chuckling under his breath too. "Why are they so scared?" I shrugged.

"Because we're being approached by two legends in the making!" Oscar answered for me.

"Legends in the making?" I questioned, I was sure my face showed my disbelief.

"What else are we meant to call you? You both are the first to get an immediate promotion on the completion of Boot Camp, and you both won your categories." Freya exclaimed.

"You're both at the top of your classes. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys were picked for N7 Training right out of the Academy." Aakash added. I flushed red at their words.

"That's a bit preemptive isn't it? I mean there's still like 4 years till then." I laughed nervously.

"Your friends are weird." Shepard whispered.

"Tell me about it." I murmured back. I smiled internally as Omega pulled Shepard into conversation. Despite their oddities they were family. I watched Shepard thoughtfully. I hadn't really planned on it, but perhaps befriending him wouldn't be so terrible. I chuckled to myself, waving off Shepard's curious look and joining in conversation.

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